Mary Riddell is a columnist and a political interviewer for the Daily Telegraph. She writes on topics ranging from family to foreign policy and is particularly interested in criminal justice. Her focus is what is going on, for better or for worse, in the Parliamentary Labour Party.

A Lib Dem Con? Woe betide Labour if it mocks the coalition

The wilderness years start here. As Labour comes to terms with its defeat, it must face up to an uncomfortable truth. In the last, critical days, it proved more divided than a Tory and a LibDem party with a world of policy difference between them.

Despite the obstacles, a rainbow alliance was never a non-starter. It came closer to happening than almost anyone knows. Long after the media had written off its chances yesterday afternoon, Nick Clegg and Gordon Brown were still talking. In the end Mr Brown, unsure of whether Mr Clegg was serious, called time on any deal, saying the country and the Queen could wait no longer.

Today rancour remains between those who fought for a progressive alliance with the LibDems and the dinosaur tendency, led byJohn Reid and David Blunkett, who actively tried to scupper it. Now Labour is going to have to find a new leader, a new purpose and a new spirit of unity.

The risk is that the party dares to be complacent. Already, some are talking dismissively about the LibDem Cons and assuming that a coalition built on candyfloss foundations of self-interest will collapse almost instantly. That is unlikely. Mr Clegg has gained too much and David Cameron ceded too much for either to put their pact at risk.

In addition, you would have to be very churlish to think that today's developments are all bad. The pensioner fearing cold and hunger and the failing child drifting towards the criminal justice system will be better served by this hamstrung administration than they would have been by a Tory government with a mandate to govern as it chose.

Yes, there will be flashpoints – Europe for a start. Yes, the tensions may prove too much. And yes, some disgruntled left-wing voters may desert the LibDems, never to return. But if anyone thinks that power will automatically revert to Labour, they should think again. The new politics has arrived. Now the onus is on Labour to offer something more coherent, more bold and more attractive.